User Reviews

Great show, watched 3 seasons when it was new then forgot about it until a few months ago and ended up rewatching it and finishing the series. Has a lot of plot twists, betrayals and action. Don't watch with the kids around though, plenty of nudity and violence.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This TV shows is one of my favourite not for history (who take some liberties compared to reality) but for environment : suits, set, style... Actors are good, suspens is here and there is a lot of famous historic character as Luciano, young Capone, Rothstein ... Seen it if it's not already done !!!

Exceptional from start to finish and Steve Buscemi gives an outstanding performance.

A show that wanted to be The Sopranos but failed at its goal. The characters are boring, the plots are forgettable, and overall it's a decent historical piece but nothing more.

Steve Buscemi est étonnant, il a pris pleinement la mesure du rôle du dandy apprenti-mafieux très distingué… On ne peut en dire autant des autres qui sonnent faux, si faux que c’en est dérangeant. Cela dit la reconstitution de l’époque est soignée et HBO oblige, on tombe sur une violence certaine et du cul ici et là, ce qui n’est pas désagréable. Il reste deux gros problèmes cependant. D’abord la prohibition : pour les Américains c’est sans doute très intéressant mais nous… on s’en fout comme de l’an 40. Ensuite il ne se passe pour ainsi dire rien là-dedans : c’est en effet du blabla à n’en plus finir, le quotidien de combinards péteux et si au début on apprécie le coup de pression du FBI qui vient renifler de temps en temps, il s’en trouve totalement dilué par la suite. Il n’y a que 12 épisodes (dans la saison 1) de plus de 50 mn chacun au bas mot : quand est-ce que ça décolle, ce truc ? quand est-ce que ça se réveille ? on voit Scorsese au générique mais pas la patte des Affranchis, ni son génie. Surtout de l’ennui en somme !

It's one of those shows that completely goes off the rails after the good will instilled from its early seasons. 1 & 2 are absolutely incredible, 3 is when you'll start to get a bit "fatigued" with their insistence to focus on certain insufferable plots, and 4 is when you'll surely face exhaustion with your favorite characters making the same stupid mistakes over and over again / getting killed. Steve Buscemi is both miscast and also perfect at the same time. It's weird. The show definitely suffers from having a roster of characters that outshine the lead, since we're constantly taken away from the stories of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Jimmy, Chalky White, and the like in order to frame Buscemi as this Bogart-like pillar of badass charisma. It's a bit much. (Especially the scenes where he's beating up guys three times his size.) Season 5 is where things really went downhill for me. It's almost like halfway through the season, HBO called up and said, "Alright, we've left you guys alone for a few years, time to wrap this convoluted nightmare up. Right now." It ends shockingly and abruptly, abandoning the more interesting plots waiting in the ranks for a redemption story that you probably won't give a **** about. That being said, much like Twin Peaks, Dexter, and the Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire creates a vibrant world that you want to revisit, despite its sadomasochistic attitude toward its characters and the viewer.

Epic gangster TV show. The actors do a great job and the production quality is very high.